Skinny Black Chicks

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Last week, one trending topic on Twitter was #annoyingquestions. One question that really annoys me: Why do you work out? If you're a skinny black chick who exercises, you probably get asked this, too. It's like I don't need to work out because I'm already skinny.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not an exercise goddess who works out seven days a week, twice a day. In fact, it's something I just kind of started enjoying recently. I think people have this idea that the only reason anybody would {and should} work out is to lose weight, at least in my experience. People can't imagine any other reason someone would want to. Well, I work out {or attempt to} for a few reasons: 1) I want to be healthy and have a long life with few health issues; 2) I like how I feel after working out {now, being motivated to do so is a whole other story}; 3) I don't want to have to work too hard to maintain my physique when I get older. And besides, just because you're thin doesn't mean you're healthy.

Whether you're skinny or not, there are several benefits to working out {aside from losing weight}. According to Mayo Clinic, exercise:

Sunday, July 18, 2010

As you may know, Jada Pinkett Smith graced the cover of the July 2010 issue of Essence Magazine sans clothing.

In her feature article, she spoke on her size-- being a thin black woman. She was telling the writer, Jeanine Amber, how she feels that women should love the way they look. She said, "...whatever you look like, you better be comfortable with it."

Jeanine suggests that it's probably easy for Jada to embrace her body because "what is she, a California-size negative zero?" Jada's response? "...Black men like their women with a little meat. All my life, Black men have told me how flawed I am. People may look at the picture and not necessarily be able to identify my woes about my own body, but I have them..."

I remember as a freshman in college, this guy told me I "would be a dime if I were thick." It used to bother me when guys would say things like that because I can't control how I look (It took me all four years in college to gain weight, and it was only 10 pounds Lol). It's like hearing that you're almost good enough-- but not quite. Thankfully, like Jada, I've learned to accept and love my skinniness (90 percent of the time).

I also think it's interesting that people don't get why thin/skinny women have body insecurities just like many other women. I mean, we get called 'bony,' 'sticks,' 'poles'; people ask us if we eat, what do we eat, how much we weigh, what size we wear and the list goes on and on and on. And the thing is, it's seemingly okay for people to do this to thin people. Newsflash: It's not. What if, as a big girl, people said, 'Oh my gosh, you're so big!' And asked you , 'What do you eat? What size pants do you wear?' You'd probably find it annoying and rude as hell. My point is, when you constantly have people telling you how skinny you are, how you need to eat and gain weight and how you're so pretty...but you'd be perfect if you were thick, it can cause you to feel insecure about your looks.

But like Mrs. Pinkett Smith says, we have to learn to love ourselves and our bodies, no matter how fat, skinny, tall, short, light, dark, etc. we are. There is beauty in our differences, and I wish more people realized that. But whether they do or not, we have to know for ourselves that we are beautiful and worthy.

Thank you so much for creating this space for Skinny Black Chicks who feel the same way. For a minute there, I thought I was alone. Even at 30, I still get teased about my weight; and boy can I EAT! Lol! Plus, I am from the south, so you know already know what I mean by that...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

I wrote this post last summer for “for colored gurls”, but I think it’s still relevant, especially for this blog.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the new Fox reality TV Show ‘More to Love.’ The show kind of bothers me. It’s not only the fact that women are on a reality show for a few weeks looking for “love” (that’s reality, right?), it’s also that these women are touted as ‘real women.’

Don’t get me wrong, I think plus-sized women are beautiful like all women, and I loved the movie Real Women have Curves. But the title and the fact people say and believe this, in my opinion, is not cool. Well, not so much that they believe it, but that they believe it’s the authentic (and only or best) way to be.

I’m assuming a curvy woman is considered real because they’re not fake like thin women in Hollywood. However, I’m thin, and lots of other women are, too? So what does that make us? Little girls?

Well, that doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, I agree that every woman should love her body at any and every size, and if saying ‘real women have curves’ helps you feel better, then that’s awesome. It’s just kind of insulting (in my opinion) that I’m not seen as real because I don’t have dangerous curves ahead.

I also understand that most women in America look like this (research shows that one out of three women wear a size 14), but let’s face it, there are naturally thin women as well. It may not be as many, but we’re out here!

And one of my biggest pet peeves is larger individuals feeling like it’s okay to call me (or anyone else) ’skinny’ or ‘toothpick ‘ or any other name or phrase to make me feel bad about my size. (Can you say Mo’Nique?) I’ve made this argument many times, and people generally say the same things- it’s different because there is more discrimation against larger-sized people so it’s okay to critique thinner people. Well, I see it like this: no one should really judge or criticize anyone’s size, particularly if they don’t want it done to them.

So what’s the point? I’m really just venting but I really feel like the whole body image thing is a very serious issue no matter what size. I just wanted to point out the other side of the issue.